Life As We Know It - Careese
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: All he wanted to do was talk to her about it. To ask her into his heart and his life and mind forever, but he couldn't find the words. He was afraid if he told her what he was really thinking, he would push her away forever. And he couldn't imagine a world without her. He couldn't lose her. Not even if it meant losing the one thing that he really wanted with her. AU. Spoilers.


**Life As We Know It**

**A John Reese & Joss Carter Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker. **

**Author's Note: **

**Total A.U because I need some therapy post-last night's episode. I barely got a chance to know Carter and Reese, and now my heart is breaking into a million little pieces for Reese. And because I loved Carter already, and I HATED to see her die. This is short and horribly OOC, but this is my first time writing anything 'Careese'. So, please forgive any mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: All mistakes, all out of characterness is mine. The characters belong to Nolan, if they belonged to me, then Carter would still be alive and the Carter/Reese ship would be sailing into the sunset.**

**Rated: T**

**.**

"_**I believe that you can't try to lead or control it**__**/**__**'Cause that's just life as we know it**__**."**_

**Life As We Know It, Lady Antebellum_ **_**  
**_

It had been months, _months_.

And they still hadn't talked about _it_.

The kiss that they had shared or the confession right before the kiss in the middle of Reese's impending death sentence. They brushed it aside after they'd gotten through it alive, swept it under the rug like it hadn't happened at all. They rambled along like nothing had changed between them at all, like there wasn't a current of electricity running between them, ready to spark and ignite at any moment.

They were good at pretending.

And she hated it.

All she wanted was a permanent home in his heart, a place in his bed and endless kisses forever. She wanted more confessions, maybe this time he would actually have the courage to say _I love you_ aloud and kiss her for a second time. Maybe this time they would actually name whatever it was between them. She wanted to fall and to fall hard. She wanted him to catch her and take off running to a someplace only they knew.

She just didn't know how to say it. Not without pushing him away. Not without losing him completely.

**.**

It had been months. _Months_.

And all he could think about was the kiss. The confession. The way she had looked at him afterwards, her eyes so full of love and trust. It had been enough to undo him and to keep him undone days and days following the events. Even now he was still struggling to _not_ take her in his arms and having an encore of the kiss, to make it more sensual and emotion filled than the last go 'round.

All he wanted to do was talk to her about it. To ask her into his heart and his life and mind forever, but he couldn't find the words. He was afraid if he told her what he was _really_ thinking, he would push her away forever. And he couldn't imagine a world without her. He couldn't lose her. Not even if it meant losing the one thing that he _really_ wanted with her.

He was good at pretending. He could fake it if he had to.

**.**

"I understand it might ruin things between the two of you Reese. But you still need to talk to her. Whatever happened between you that night in the morgue needs to be aired out and dealt with before it ruins _us_," Finch told him. "Besides, how do you know the results will be so unpleasant? She might surprise you, you know."

"Are you sure you don't have any idea what happened between us?" Reese asked, his lips twisting in something that looked like a smile.

"I'm sure," Reese replied absent-mindedly as he made a pot of tea for Root. "Now go and talk to Detective Carter. _Please_."

**.**

He was going to talk to her like Finch had suggested. But when he saw her standing in the park, waiting for him, a smile on her beautiful face, his carefully rehearsed speech disappeared.

He sprinted the last few steps towards her and wrapped his arms around her.

"John! What are you doing?" She asked, failing miserably to hide her surprise, failing miserably to hide her _excitement _over the turn of events.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," he answered as he framed her face with his hands and leaned in to kiss her.

"You know if we do this, everything is going to change," she whispered when he pulled away, her eyes half-closed. "Life as we know it is over if we decide to pursue this."

"I know," Reese whispered back as he caressed her cheekbones with his thumbs. "I know Joss, but I don't care. Not anymore anyways."

"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment," Carter told him. "For some kind of confirmation that what you said, what happened between us that night in the morgue was real. Is real."

"I'm sorry it took so long for me to get to this point," Reese replied, his fingers left her cheeks and found their way through her hair. "I think I was just a little afraid of what would happen, of the repercussions of loving somebody again."

"I'm afraid too," she answered, putting her hands on _his_ face and resting her forehead against his. "We can be afraid together, okay?"

"I think I can handle that," Reese answered.

Carter smiled and kissed him again, pouring all the passion, all the love she had kept locked up for the past few months. "Good. Because after tonight I'm not letting you go, not without a fight," she said.

"There won't be any fights Joss. For better or worst you're stuck with me for a very, very long time. Maybe forever."

"_Good,"_ Carter repeated.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Leave all your thoughts in the review box. I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for giving this a chance!**

**Holly, 11/21/2013_**


End file.
